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Branch AGM Roundup

QLD

The QLD Branch held their AGM on Friday 4 November, the highlight of the evening was the Guest Speaker Dr Geoff Garrett AO QLD Chief Scientist.

The QLD Branch nominated Dr Garrett as an Honorary Fellow (FRACI) and the board accepted the nomination. Dr Garrett was presented with his certificate by Branch President Dr Trevor Appleton FRACI CChem.

During his presentation Dr Garrett spoke of the need to engage chemistry students at both the secondary school and tertiary level and in particular the importance of research and development at the university level and getting the research into the market place. Qld is renowned for the “Smart State” initiative and this has brought many quality scientists and funding to Qld, but without continuous improvement and ongoing research, funding becomes harder to get. Australia was placed in the top 7 R&D OECD countries about 10 -15 years ago, but we have slipped in recent years and now placed about 20. We should be striving to return Australia to the top rankings as this also affects the ability to attract international funding.

Dr Garrett & Dr Appleton

WA

45 attendees got together for the AGM evening and enjoyed pre-dinner drinks and the opportunity to network and catch up with old friends. Branch President Shane Koenig then presided over the AGM and presented a Branch Annual Report outlining the many events held in this Year of Chemistry. Simon Lewis was presented with his well-deserved Fellowship certificate.

Brian Johnson, formerly of UWA, was awarded a RACI life membership after being a member of RACI for 50 years. Kelvin Lord won the Rowe Scientific sponsored Door Prize (yet again).

The formal affairs of the evening were wrapped up quickly, leaving plenty of time for everyone to enjoy an excellent meal and table-hop to converse with as many people as possible.

After dessert, Simon Lewis presented a highly entertaining talk on finger prints, covering the history of trying to definitively identify people, through the use of fingerprints to determine who had handled items of police interest, through to cutting-edge examination of fingerprint skin secretions and what it can tell about the individual who made them. Coffee and energetic conversation stretching late into the night were a fitting end to a great evening.

NSW

The NSW AGM was held back in September, Adam Cawley the outgoing Branch President gave a presentation covering the highlights of his term, which included:

Increased direct communication to members through weekly E-news and monthly newsletters containing information of relevance to a local audience.
Continued success, and indeed expansion, of special interest group activities such as Analytical, Chemical Education, Industrial, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Polymer.
Increased regional section activity in New England, Northern Rivers, Riverina Murray and Wollongong.
In terms of community-engagement, the NSW Branch has delivered high-impact promotion of chemistry. We have close associations with the NSW Government Office of Science, schools, museums and libraries. This has largely been the product of work performed by Edwina Hine, our outstanding branch co-ordinator, who is also co-chair of the NSW Science Week committee.
Acknowledgment of Long term members.

John Zavras incoming Branch President was introduced to the committee and the AGM featured a guest speaker Professor Philip Hogg, Director of the Lowery Institute.

Adam Cawley & John Zavras

VIC

The VIC branch AGM held on 14 November at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences included celebrating the branches 50 year members, who were:

Dr Frank Eastwood
Mr Albert Frank
Mr Johannes van Gemert
Dr Raymond Hodges
Mr Arthur Hoskins
Prof David Kelly
E/Prof Owen Potter
Mr Grant Stevens
Mr Royce Watts
Dr Jeffrey Wunderlich
Mr Peter York was also a 50 year member this year, who unfortunately passed away in September.

Dr Frank Eastwood, Mr Royce Watts and Dr Jeffrey Wunderlich attended the AGM and each stood up and spoke about their chemistry careers over the past 50 years, mentioning their gratitude to the RACI for recognising their contribution over the years.

VIC Branch also welcomed new committee members who are all looking forward to being part of the committee in the coming year.

VIC Branch New Committee Members:

Omar Abdul-Rahim
Christopher Burns
Milena Dryza
Lucy Lunevich
Brian Salter-Duke
Colic Scholes

SA

The SA Branch’s AGM highlighted the branch’s efforts in embracing the International Year of Chemistry.

The branch actively sought to raise the profile of the RACI through not only the usual branch activities and events of the various groups, but also through other opportunities which have presented themselves due to IYC.

Each activity to date has been successful and a positive advertisement for the RACI to date and continued success is expected with all our up and coming activities.